He is just a baby, but he has already gone through an awful lot. Preston Gable was born with congenital heart defects. In just a few weeks, he will undergo major heart surgery. I spoke with his mom about his journey so far, what’s next – and what she wants people to know about her little guy.
It’s impossible to know what it’s like to have a sick child – unless you’ve had a sick child. For the Gable family of Silver Creek, it’s been a tough journey, but they are strong and very hopeful.
Shelby Gable recalls that moment when she heard the diagnosis, “It was surreal. We found out at on a Friday at our 20 week anomaly scan. Little did we know that appointment would be the start of a crazy roller coaster that is CHD. We already knew he was a boy because we found out early, but we were excited to see him on the ultrasound again.” But soon, Shelby explains, it became clear that something was wrong, “We could see the ultrasound tech was looking at our sons heart, but from what I could tell it looked normal, four chambers but I knew something had to be wrong. Who spends an hour looking at an unborn baby’a heart if there was nothing wrong? Then the ultrasound tech said she’d be right back and it instantly confirmed something was wrong. When she returned she had two doctors with her. I’ll never forget hearing those words “there appears to be something wrong with your son’s heart.” Our world stopped. The first thing out of my mouth was “Is he going to be okay? Like be born alive; he’ll be fine right?” and the doctor said “I don’t think so. Most people that find out their baby has heart problems abort the baby. You have until 24 weeks” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I would never abort my baby even if it did have a slight chance at life, I was going to give him that chance. We left after making an appointment with a prenatal cardiologist. The ride home was a blur. We waited the longest weekend of our lives until Monday to see the cardiologist and they said he had HRHS, hypoplastic right heart syndrome which basically means his right ventricle that pump blood to the lungs is small, and a few VSDs, holes in the septum of the heart. Every prenatal cardiologist appointment we had there was something new with his heart, and the diagnosis kept changing to the point they labeled his diagnosis “Preston’s heart”. It wasn’t until a month after he was born we had a stable diagnosis.”
Fast forward a few months to the birth of beautiful baby Preston. Turns out, he’s one tough little nugget, “He’s doing great! You’d never know he was a heart baby. Everything they told us would happen; turning blue, loss of appetite, hard time gaining weight, become very fussy, heavy breathing; never happened. His oxygen dropped, and is in the low 80s but it’s been stable there for a few months now when they told us it would continue to drop.”
The time has come, though, for surgery. The little boy with the heart problems will have surgery just after a day known for love and hearts, Valentine’s Day. Preston, and his parents, will head to Boston for pre-op appointments on February 15th, surgery will be on the 16th. Of course, it is a very tough time for Shelby, “We’re nervous. The thought of the surgeons cutting open what will be our eight and a half month old’s chest, stopping his heart and trying to fix his defects and having to restart his heart is nerve wrecking.”
0 Comments